November 12, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Samara Heisz/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, EMILY SHAPIRO, IVAN PEREIRA and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide.

Over 52.3 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. The criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has also varied from country to country.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica. The United States is the worst-affected nation, with more than 10.4 million diagnosed cases and at least 242,248 deaths.

Nearly 200 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 potential vaccines in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Nov 12, 1:49 pm
Germany, Greece report record case increases

Germany’s Robert Koch Institut reported a record one-day increase of 21,866 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing Germany’s total to over 727,000 people diagnosed.

Lothar Wieler, president of the RKI, warned, “it is possible that patients may no longer be able to receive optimal care.”

Greece’s National Public Health Organization also reported a record increase in new cases and fatalities on Thursday. Greece has over 66,000 people diagnosed and at least 959 deaths.

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency reported 37,978 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the nation’s total to 1,066,401. There were 636 new fatalities, bringing Italy’s death toll to 43,589.

ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Nov 12, 1:16 pm
Corey Lewandowski tests positive

Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a person briefed on the diagnosis.

Lewandowski tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. He has been in Philadelphia this week as the Trump campaign continues to bring lawsuits related to the election results.

Lewandowski was among 400 attendees at an indoor election night party at the White House. Many attendees were not wearing masks or social distancing, including chief of staff Mark Meadows, who also tested positive in the days after the event.

Jeff Miller, a lobbyist and longtime Republican political strategist, has also tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a person familiar with the diagnosis. Miller was also at the election night party at the White House.

At least 15 people in President Donald Trump’s orbit have tested positive for COVID-19 since Meadows’ diagnosis last Wednesday.

Richard Walters, the chief of staff for the Republican National Committee, has also tested positive for COVID-19, according to an RNC official.

“The RNC is following CDC guidance and notifying staff who came in contact with him,” the official said.

Walters has not been to the White House recently.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.

Nov 12, 12:19 pm
NYC ‘preparing’ to close schools if positivity rate climbs over 3%

New York City is “preparing” to temporarily close schools immediately if the citywide seven-day positivity rate climbs over 3%, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
 
The seven-day positivity now stands at 2.6%.
 
While noting there is an “unbelievably low level of transmission in our schools,” the mayor nonetheless said the city “will move immediately, the next day schools will be shut down.”
 
“No one wants to see that happen,” he said. “There is still a chance to turn that around. But we are preparing for that possibility.”

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Nov 12, 12:18 pm
Corey Lewandowski tests positive

Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a person briefed on the diagnosis.

Lewandowski tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. He has been in Philadelphia this week as the Trump campaign continues to bring lawsuits related to the election results.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.

Nov 12, 11:02 am
New tool shows COVID-19 risk anywhere in the US in real time

Worried about COVID-19 this Thanksgiving?

You can calculate the risk level of being exposed to the virus while attending a gathering, given the event size and location, through a new tool developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool is a free, interactive, peer-reviewed, online dashboard that estimates the risk that at least one individual infected with COVID-19 is present in gatherings of different sizes throughout the United States and, increasingly, around the globe.

The tool allows users to adjust the size of the event and hover their cursor over a map of the United States to see the current risk level by county. For example, as of Thursday, there is a 93% chance of being exposed to COVID-19 at a dinner of 15 people in South Dakota’s virus-hit Dewey County.

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Nov 12, 10:59 am
Nearly 550 people on Delta’s no-fly list

Nearly 550 people are on Delta’s no-fly list for not complying with the airline’s mask policy, company CEO Ed Bastion said in an internal memo to employees Thursday.

“Fortunately, that number represents a tiny fraction of our overall customers, the vast majority of whom follow our guidelines,” he said.

Bastion told employees, “Please continue to conduct a self-assessment every day for symptoms before coming into work and remember mask-wearing continues to be essential.”

ABC News’ Amanda Maile contributed to this report.

Nov 12, 9:30 am
Africa sees average 8% rise in new cases over past month

Africa’s top public health official said the continent of 1.3 billion people has seen an average 8% rise in new COVID-19 cases over the past month.

“We expected it to happen,” John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a virtual press conference Thursday, adding that when a second wave of the pandemic hits, “it seems to come back with a lot of full force.”

More than 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across Africa, including over 45,000 deaths. Although testing remains a challenge, the 54-nation continent is on track to surpass two million total cases within days as infections creep up in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Nigeria.

Nkengasong urged governments and citizens to follow public health measures.

“We are at a critical point in the response,” he said.

Nov 12, 7:39 am
Fauci tells Americans to ‘hang in there,’ ‘help is really on the way’

As COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations soar to record rates across the United States, the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases is urging Americans to double down on fundamental public health measures and “hang in there” until a vaccine becomes widely available.

“Help is really on the way,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in an interview Thursday on Good Morning America.

“The cavalry is coming here. Vaccines are going to have a major positive impact,” he added. “They’re going to start being implemented and deployed in December. And as we start getting into the early part of the year — it’s going to be January, February, March — more and more and more people are going to be able to be vaccinated. So if we could just hang in there, do the public health measures that we’re talking about, we’re going to get this under control — I promise you.”

Those measures include wearing face masks, maintaining physical distances, avoiding crowds and washing hands as often as possible.

“They sound very simple and, given the really very difficult challenge we’re facing, one might think that that doesn’t make any difference. It really does,” Fauci said.

Fauci, a key member of the current White House coronavirus task force, said health care providers and those who are deemed most at-risk will have priority access to a COVID-19 vaccine, but that “ordinary” citizens should be able to get it in the second quarter of next year.

With November on pace to be America’s worst month yet fighting the coronavirus pandemic, Fauci admitted he didn’t know whether the nation was headed for a lockdown but said “we would like to stay away from that.”

“Hopefully we won’t have to do that,” he added. “The best opposite strategy to locking down is to intensify the public health measures short of locking down. So if you could do that well, you don’t have to take that step that people are trying to avoid, which has so many implications both psychologically and economically. We’d like not to do that.”

When asked about the political limbo in the wake of the presidential election, Fauci said, “Certainly it’s having no impact negatively on our ability as well as our activity in developing vaccines and developing counter measures.”

“It is still a major challenge,” he added. “We’re in a difficult situation and we just got to keep pushing.”

Nov 12, 6:55 am
Biden coronavirus advisor says US lockdown could control pandemic

Dr. Michael Osterholm, a coronavirus advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, said a nationwide lockdown could help bring the pandemic under control in the United States and even revive the economy.

Osterholm floated the idea during an on-camera interview with Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, saying COVID-19 could be managed until a vaccine becomes available by shutting down businesses for four to six weeks and paying people for lost wages.

“We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies, to medium-sized companies or city, state, county governments. We could do all of that,” Osterholm said. “If we did that, then we could lock down for four to six weeks.”

He said such a scenario could drive down infections and hospitalizations, “like they did in New Zealand and Australia.”

“Then we could really watch ourselves cruising into the vaccine availability in the first and second quarter of next year while bringing back the economy long before that,” he added.

Osterholm, director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, was named a member of Biden’s transition COVID-19 advisory board on Monday. He previously served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the U.S. Department of State from June 2018 to May 2019.

During an exclusive interview with ABC News’ David Muir earlier this year, then-Democratic presidential nominee Biden said he “would listen to the scientists” if a nationwide lockdown was recommended.

“I will be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus,” Biden said.

Nov 12, 5:52 am
Russia sees record high deaths for second straight day

Russia registered 439 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, setting a new single-day record for the second straight day.

An additional 21,608 new cases of COVID-19 were also confirmed nationwide over the past day. Russia’s cumulative total now stands at 1,858,568 cases with 32,032 deaths, according to the country’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country’s outbreak and recent surge. Nearly 28% of the newly confirmed cases — 5,997 — and over 16% of the new deaths — 71 — were reported in the capital, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Despite the growing number of infections and deaths, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown.

The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fifth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India, Brazil and France, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Nov 12, 5:01 am
Seven dead, 140 others sick in outbreak at Illinois veterans home

A COVID-19 outbreak at a veterans home in Illinois has left seven people dead and more than 140 others infected, according to a report by Chicago ABC station WLS-TV.

Currently, there are 72 residents and 72 employees battling the virus at the Illinois Veterans Home in LaSalle, some 100 miles southwest of Chicago. Four people died this week alone, WLS reported.

The facility has been conducting health screenings of staff and residents, maintaining social distancing practices, wearing face coverings as well as intensifying cleaning and disinfecting protocols, according to WLS.

“How did this happen so quickly if these protocols are in place?” state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, a veteran herself who chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Illinois House of Representatives, told WLS. “We need to take care of our veterans. They served us and we need to to serve them and make sure they are safe and they are in safe environment.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said it’s challenging to stop the virus from getting into veterans homes and other care facilities.

“Our veterans homes really have done an outstanding job of keep our veterans safe,” Pritzker said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a long-delayed state veterans home in Chicago on Wednesday morning. “But you can’t 100% keep everybody safe in this environment, especially when our communities, our mayors, our city councils, our county chairs aren’t living up to the mitigations, are not enforcing the mitigations in many parts of the state.”

“No matter what we do, there is a level of risk,” he added, “and it is especially risky, frankly, for those who are seniors, people who are over 60. As the age goes up, so does the risk.”

Nov 12, 4:22 am
US reports nearly 2,000 new deaths

There were 1,984 fatalities from COVID-19 registered in the United States on Wednesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest daily death toll is the highest figure since early May but still under the country’s peak of 2,609 new deaths on April 15.

An additional 144,133 cases of COVID-19 were also identified nationwide on Wednesday, marking a new single-day record.

It’s the eighth day in a row that the country has reported over 100,000 new infections. Wednesday’s tally tops the nation’s previous all-time high of 136,325 new cases recorded a day earlier.

A total of 10,257,825 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 239,683 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

November 11, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Marilyn Nieves/iStockBy BILL HUTCHINSON, ABC News

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — A former Kentucky police officer facing criminal charges related to the Breonna Taylor shooting is being sued by a young woman who claims he sexually assaulted her in 2018 while she was intoxicated after giving her a ride home from a bar where he was moonlighting as a security guard.

The lawsuit filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court in Louisville on Tuesday alleges former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison used his badge and uniform to cultivate a friendship with the 22-year-old woman before he allegedly assaulted her, “leaving her physically injured and mentally battered.”

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of practice by Hankison to target unsuspecting women and contains statements from some of them who allege Hankison offered them rides home from various bars he worked at in Louisville before allegedly making unwanted advances.

“Brett Hankison is a 44-year-old sexual predator. For years, he has used his police uniform and secondary night club employment as mechanisms to prey on innocent women who are two decades younger than him,” according to the lawsuit filed by Margo Borders, a law school student.

The lawyers who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Borders also represented the family of Taylor in a $12 million settlement reached with the City of Louisville over a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the fatal March 13 shooting of Taylor by police who were attempting to serve a no-knock search warrant on her apartment.

Hankison was the only officer charged in the Taylor case. A grand jury indicted him on Sept. 23 on three counts of wanton endangerment for allegedly firing errant bullets into Taylor’s apartment that penetrated a wall and entered an occupied apartment next door to Taylor’s residence. Hankison has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Hankison was fired from the police force after an internal affairs investigation determined he violated department protocols and procedures during the Taylor incident.

“Our client, Margo, felt that it was necessary to come forward and pursue justice, and hold Brett accountable,” Lonita Baker, one of Borders’ lawyers, told ABC News on Wednesday. “He used his uniform and badge to target unsuspecting women whom he knew were in a possible state where they could not consent and took advantage of them. It’s disgusting.”

Efforts to reach Hankison by ABC News were not successful. His criminal attorney, Stew Mathews, told ABC News that he has yet to speak to Hankison about the lawsuit and that he did not know if the former officer has hired a civil lawyer.

“I just found out it was filed yesterday. So I don’t know anything about it,” Mathews said.

Borders first made allegations against Hankison in June in a Facebook post in which she alleged Hankison sexually assaulted her inside her residence while she was intoxicated and unconscious.

“It took me months to process what had happened and to realize that it wasn’t my fault and I didn’t ask for that to happen by allowing him to give me a ride home,” Borders wrote in the Facebook post. “I never reported him out of fear of retaliation. I had no proof of what happened and he had the upper hand because he was a police officer. Who do you call when the person who assaulted you is a police officer? Who were they going to believe? I knew it wouldn’t be me.”

Baker said Borders reached out to her law firm following the Taylor shooting when investigators named Hankison as one of three officers who fired a total of 32 shots in the 26-year-old Black woman’s home after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one shot that hit a police sergeant in the leg when officers forced open the apartment door.

Kentucky State Attorney General Daniel Cameron said his office did not pursue homicide charges in the Taylor case because Walker fired the first shot and the officers were justified in their use of deadly force.

Borders’ lawsuit also claims that multiple women filed complaints against Hankison for making unwanted advances toward them, but that his supervisors in the police department, including former Police Chief Steve Conrad, never disciplined Hankison.

Baker told ABC News the complaints “were swept under the rug.”

Asked to respond to the lawsuit, Officer Beth Ruoff, a spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department, told ABC News on Wednesday, “We are unable to speak publicly on matters before the court and must cite pending litigation as our reason for not commenting further.”

The suit alleges that on April 20, 2018, Borders went to the Tin Roof bar in Louisville to meet friends for drinks. She claimed that Hankison, who was working at the bar as a security guard, offered to give her a ride home and she accepted. She claimed that she had known Hankison for about a year and Hankison would frequently contact her on social media.

“Margo had no objections to a ride home from a police officer. She wouldn’t have to pay for an Uber and felt protected with an officer making sure she got home safely,” according to the lawsuit.

Borders, according to the suit, claimed Hankison walked her to the door and invited himself in.

She admitted that she was intoxicated, according to the lawsuit.

“Margo left Hankison on the couch and went to her room to change. She’d had plenty to drink and went to sleep rather than returning to the living room,” the lawsuit said. “While Margo was unconscious, Hankison went into her room, stripped off his clothes and willfully, intentionally, painfully and violently sexually assaulted Margo.”

Borders, according to the suit, did not consent to have sex with Hankison. She claimed that when she regained consciousness, she yelled at Hankison to get off her, according to the suit, adding that Hankison grabbed his uniform and left.

Borders claimed that Hankison messaged her the next day and tried to suggest they had engaged in consensual relations.

The lawsuit also names the owner and managers of the Tin Roof as defendants in the lawsuit.

In a statement released on Wednesday to ABC affiliate station WHAS in Louisville, management of the Tin Roof said Hankison was terminated in the spring.

“We feel there is an obligation to provide a safe environment for guests as they enter and exit the venue and would never deliberately put the safety of our patrons at risk especially by those contracted to serve and protect,” the statement said. “We find the allegations to be reprehensible, and our company does not tolerate abuse of power or discrimination in any form.”

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

November 11, 2020 • No Comments • National News

narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, EMILY SHAPIRO and IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide.

Over 51.5 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. The criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has also varied from country to country.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica. The United States is the worst-affected nation, with more than 10.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 239,896 deaths.

Nearly 200 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 potential vaccines in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:

Nov 11, 12:53 pm
Broadway will be part of Macy’s TV-only Thanksgiving parade

Broadway will be back for one day as a part of Macy’s TV-only Thanksgiving Day parade. Participating in the televised event will be: “Hamilton,” “Mean Girls,” “Jagged Little Pill” and “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations.”
 
The parade telecast will also include pre-taped performances from representatives of groups including the New York City Pride March, the New York City Ballet, the West Point Marching Band and the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Nov 11, 12:06 pm
UK’s death toll tops 50,000

British health authorities reported 595 new COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the United Kingdom’s death toll to over 50,000.

The U.K. is the first country in the European region to top 50,000 deaths.

Nov 11, 11:32 am
Italy becomes 10th country to surpass 1 million cases

Italy confirmed 32,961 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing its tally soaring past 1 million.

The latest daily case count is just under the country’s all-time high of 39,809 on Nov. 7

Italy also registered an additional 623 fatalities from COVID-19 in the past day, the highest since April but still under the country’s record of 919 deaths on March 27.

The nationwide, cumulative total now stands at 1,028,424 confirmed cases with 42,953, according to data published Wednesday by Italy’s civil protection agency.

Italy, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, is battling a rising number of COVID-19 infections as a second wave sweeps much of Europe. It’s the tenth country in the world to surpass 1 million confirmed cases, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Nov 11, 11:22 am
United disinfecting its busiest airports with electrostatic spraying

United said it’s disinfecting lobbies and terminals with electrostatic spraying at 35 of its busiest airports: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Cleveland, Washington Reagan, Denver, Dallas Fort Worth, Newark, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, Guam, Honolulu, Washington Dulles, Houston George Bush, Kona, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, LaGuardia, London Heathrow, Orlando, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, Maui, Chicago O’Hare, Portland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, Orange County and Tampa.

Terminals at those airports are disinfected a few times a week and United said it plans to introduce the electrostatic spray cleaning nightly by early December.

The electrostatic sprayer can “reach and uniformly coat germ-prone surfaces, including areas that conventional trigger sprays may easily miss,” United said.

The airline said it hopes to expand to more airports next year.

ABC News’ Gio Benitez contributed to this report.

Nov 11, 10:40 am
Ethiopia’s case count tops 100,000 amid fears of civil war

Ethiopia has confirmed more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases, becoming one of just a handful of countries across Africa that have surpassed the grim milestone.

Other African countries with over 100,000 confirmed cases as of Wednesday are Egypt with 109,000, Morocco with 265,000 and South Africa with 740,000. Meanwhile, the 54-nation African continent is approaching 2 million confirmed cases, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The development comes as Ethiopia, one of Africa’s most populous countries, appears to be on the brink of civil war amid increasingly deadly skirmishes in its northern Tigray region between federal forces and Tigray’s ones.

The United Nations and other groups have warned of a brewing humanitarian crisis that could affect up to 9 million people.

Nov 11, 9:56 am
England to give university students 7-day window to travel home for Christmas

University students in England will be given a seven-day window next month to travel home before Christmas, with school campuses providing mass testing before they leave, according to new guidance published Wednesday by the U.K. government.

After a second nationwide lockdown ends on Dec. 2, students will be allowed to travel home on staggered departure dates set by universities from Dec. 3 to Dec. 9.

“The student travel window will mean students can travel having just completed the four-week period of national restrictions, reducing the risk of transmission to family and friends at home,” the U.K. government said in a press release announcing the new guidance.

The government is urging universities to transition to remote learning by Dec. 9 so students can continue their education while also having the option to return home to study from there. The government said it will also work closely with universities to establish mass COVID-19 testing capacity.

“Tests will be offered to as many students as possible before they travel home for Christmas, with universities in areas of high prevalence prioritised,” the government said. “If a student tests positive before their departure they will need to remain in self-isolation for the required period of 10 days. Moving all learning online by 9 December gives enough time for students to complete the isolation period and return home for Christmas.”

English students at universities in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland are instructed to follow the guidance relevant to where they are living before returning home.

The U.K. government’s universities minister, Michelle Donelan, acknowledged that the upcoming holidays “will feel different this year” due to the unprecedented situation.

“We have worked really hard to find a way to do this for students, while limiting the risk of transmission,” Donelan said in a statement Wednesday. “Now it is vital they follow these measures to protect their families and communities, and for universities to make sure students have all the wellbeing support they need, especially those who stay on campus over the break.”

Nov 11, 9:03 am
Texas becomes first US state to surpass one million cases

Texas has confirmed its one-millionth case of COVID-19, becoming the first U.S. state to do so.

The Lone Star state confirmed 12,337 new cases in the past day, bringing its cumulative total to 1,010,364 confirmed cases as of early Wednesday. The state also registered an additional 114 fatalities from COVID-19, bringing its death toll to 19,337, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Texas’ seven-day moving average of daily positive COVID-19 tests stands at 10%. Current hot spots within the southwestern state include the areas of Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Meanwhile, California is on track to become the second U.S. state to surpass one million confirmed cases. The Golden State confirmed 8,135 new cases in the past day, bringing its cumulative total to 989,432 confirmed cases as of early Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Nov 11, 8:31 am
Europe clinches deal to buy up to 300M doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

Pfizer and BioNTech announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement to supply up to 300 million doses of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine to Europe.

The agreement with the European Commission provides a supply of 200 million doses and an option to request an additional 100 million doses, according to a joint press release from Pfizer and BioNTech.

Doses allocated for European Union member states will be produced in BioNTech’s manufacturing sites in Germany as well as at Pfizer’s site in Belgium. If the vaccine candidate receives authorization from the European Medicines Agency, then doses will be ordered by the EU member states who have elected to receive the vaccine as part of the agreement.

Deliveries are anticipated to start by the end of 2020, subject to clinical success and regulatory approval, according to the press release.

“Today’s finalized supply agreement with the European Commission represents the largest initial order of vaccine doses for Pfizer and BioNTech to date and a major step toward our shared goal of making a COVID-19 vaccine available to vulnerable populations,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement Wednesday.

Last month, the European Medicines Agency began a rolling review of data on the efficacy and safety of the vaccine candidate to determine whether the drug should be authorized for use.

Pfizer, a New York-based pharmaceutical giant, and BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, announced Monday that the experimental vaccine appears to be at least 90% effective in an early analysis. The European Medicines Agency said in a statement Monday that it “has not yet had a chance to formally assess these efficacy data.”

Nov 11, 5:57 am
Vanuatu confirms first case since pandemic began

A small island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean has remained untouched by the coronavirus pandemic — until now.

Vanuatu confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Vanuatu’s Ministry of Health said the case is a 23-year-old man who had returned to the archipelago nation on Nov. 4, after traveling to the United States. He tested positive during a routine screening on the fifth day of quarantine.

The man, who hasn’t shown any symptoms, will remain in isolation until health clearance is provided, according to the health ministry.

“Physical distancing and personal protection measures were applied and maintained during the flight, throughout the arrival process, during transport to and during registration at the quarantine facility,” the ministry said in a press release. “The person had been identified during pre-travel registration as traveling from a higher-risk location, therefore was seated separately at the back of the plane and was screened and transported separately from other arriving passengers. The case did not share a room with anyone else at the quarantine facility and is reported to have adhered to all appropriate measures throughout the travel and quarantine process.”

Nov 11, 5:27 am
Russia records highest number of daily deaths

Russia registered 432 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, setting a new single-day record.

An additional 19,851 new cases of COVID-19 were also confirmed nationwide over the past day, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters. It’s the first time in six days that daily infections didn’t exceed 20,000.

The country’s cumulative total now stands at 1,836,960 cases with 31,593 deaths, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country’s outbreak and recent surge. More than 22% of the newly confirmed cases — 4,477 — and nearly 17% of the new deaths — 73 — were reported in the capital, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Despite the growing number of infections and deaths, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown.

The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fifth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India, Brazil and France, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Nov 11, 5:17 am
Nearly 1,000 inmates at Colorado jail have tested positive

The El Paso County Jail in Colorado has had 976 inmates and 85 staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The outbreak at the jail was first reported on Oct. 26, when eight employees across varying assignments were found to be infected. The following day, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office announced that two more deputies who work there and eight inmates had tested positive.

“An aggressive, prioritized COVID testing schedule was implemented for staff and inmates,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on its website, where it provides updates on the outbreaks as test results become available.

There were 911 inmates and 73 staff members who tested positive on Monday alone. It’s unclear how many total inmates were in custody that day.

“The threat of further infection will continue to increase over the next several weeks,” the sheriff’s office said. “At this point in time, there have been no inmates who have had to be hospitalized. They are all being treated in the facility by our medical provider, WellPath.”

Visitation at the jail remains closed.

Nov 11, 4:09 am
US reports another record high of over 136,000 new cases

There were 136,325 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Tuesday, marking a new single-day record, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

It’s the seventh straight day that the country has reported over 100,000 new infections. Tuesday’s tally tops the nation’s previous all-time high of 128,412 new cases

A total of 10,257,825 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 239,683 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.

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November 10, 2020 • No Comments • National News

pinkomelet/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News

(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided its most robust guidelines yet for Thanksgiving, as cases surge throughout the United States and several states have issued restrictions ahead of the holidays.

The CDC’s guidance, which was first updated on Monday, emphasizes that the safest option for the holiday is celebrating only with people in your household. However, if you do celebrate with others, the agency advises you to take extra precautions, like wearing masks and keeping your distance.

“Traditional Thanksgiving gatherings with family and friends are fun but can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu,” the CDC said. “The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is to celebrate with people in your household.”

Public health officials have observed that family gatherings are partly fueling an increase in cases. In Canada, where its national Thanksgiving is celebrated Oct. 12, health officials have said clusters of new cases have since been tied to family get-togethers.

The CDC’s new guidance stresses that even with friends and family, people need to be cautious during the holidays to prevent from adding to the trend of increasing cases.

For those who do plan to spend Thanksgiving with people outside their household, the CDC advises that you wear a well-fitting mask, keep 6 feet of distance from people who do not live with you and wash your hands often.

If attending a gathering, the agency recommends that you bring your own plate, cups and utensils; store your mask safely while eating and drinking; avoid going in and out of the kitchen while food is being prepared; and use single-use options for condiments and food containers.

Hosts can plan the meal outdoors with a limited group or open windows if dining indoors, talk with guests about expectations beforehand, sanitize surfaces and even have guests bring their own food and drinks, the CDC said.

Around the thorny issue of travel, the CDC advises that “staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others.”

“Travel increases your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19,” the agency said.

Still, airlines are anticipating peaks around the holiday. United Airlines, for instance, said it is adding more than 1,400 domestic flights to peak travel days during Thanksgiving week.

If you are traveling, the CDC emphasizes checking travel restrictions, getting your flu shot, wearing a mask, distancing and washing your hands often in public places.

The guidance comes as every state in the country is reporting an increasing number of new COVID-19 cases, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run data organization.

In Washington, D.C., and five states — California, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont — cases are low but increasing. In the remaining 45 states as well as Guam and Puerto Rico, cases are high and staying high.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, discussed Thanksgiving travel on MSNBC this Tuesday, saying that each family is going to have to make a “risk assessment,” especially if you have an elderly person or someone with an underlying condition in your family.

“You really need to make a decision,” the nation’s leading infectious disease expert said. “Do I want to put that person at an increased risk by having people coming in from all parts of the country, usually in a crowded airport, without necessarily knowing if they’re infected, without having time to get tested or time to do quarantine?”

In recent weeks, state leaders have issued their own holiday guidance and ordered new restrictions to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

In California, officials released holiday guidelines suggesting that residents limit themselves to outdoor gatherings with people from no more than three households for no more than two hours.

Rhode Island has urged residents to avoid travel for the holidays. It also recently decreased its social gathering limit from 15 people to 10 as cases rise in the state.

Massachusetts advises short in-person visits and virtual holiday dinners with extended family and friends, “especially if they are at higher risk for illness from COVID-19.” Last week, amid rising cases, the state also issued new limits on gatherings at private residences, reducing them from 25 to 10, and placing a 9:30 p.m. curfew on all gatherings until further notice.

To read more about Thanksgiving safety, see here.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs, Sophie Tatum, Arielle Mitropoulos, Soo Rin Kim, Brian Hartman, Ben Bell and Gio Benitez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

November 10, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide.

Over 50.9 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks. The criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has also varied from country to country.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica. The United States is the worst-affected nation, with more than 10 million diagnosed cases and at least 238,251 deaths.

Nearly 200 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 potential vaccines in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Nov 10, 1:27 pm
Fauci says ‘I will take the vaccine’

Now that Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its vaccine may be 90% effective, Dr. Anthony Fauci says it’s possible that “by the time we get into December, we’ll be able to have doses available for people … at the highest priority to get it first.”

“Hopefully, since this is such an effective vaccine, or efficacious at least in the trial, that after a reasonable period of time, we will get vaccine to everyone who wants and needs it and hopefully that will be the overwhelming majority of the country,” Fauci told MSNBC Tuesday. “The vaccine is a very, very important tool in ending this pandemic both domestically and internationally.”

Fauci added that he will take the vaccine and he’ll “recommend that my family take the vaccine.”

ABC News’ Sophie Tatum contributed to this report.

Nov 10, 12:28 pm
Every state is reporting an increasing number of new cases

Every state in the country is reporting an increasing number of new COVID-19 cases, according to the COVID Tracking Project

In Washington, D.C., and five states — California, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont — cases are low, but increasing.

In the remaining 45 states as well as Guam, and Puerto Rico, cases are high and staying high.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Soorin Kim, Brian Hartman and Ben Bell contributed to this report.

Nov 10, 10:23 am
Paris prosecutor opens judicial inquiries into COVID-19 response complaints

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened four judicial inquiries in response to complaints related to how French authorities have handled the coronavirus pandemic.

Remy Heitz, the chief public prosecutor in the French capital, said in a statement Tuesday that the judicial inquiries bring together 253 complaints against decision-makers and national public structures from the general population, health workers, civil servants as well as sick or dead people that were addressed to the Paris prosecutor’s office since March 24.

The investigations will enable the prosecutor’s office to carry out complex investigations intended to bring to light any criminal offenses on counts of voluntary abstention from fighting a disaster, endangering the lives of others and unintentional homicides and injuries.

France, along with much of Europe, is in the grip of a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Paris and its suburbs have been particularly hard-hit.

ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.

Nov 10, 9:14 am
Denmark abandons plan for mass mink cull

Denmark’s government will not move ahead with its plan to immediately slaughter all 17 million mink in the country, due to legal obstacles and a lack of political backing.

Last week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the mass cull of the country’s entire mink population — including those that are healthy — amid concerns that a COVID-19 mutation moving from farmed mink to humans could evade future vaccines. But on Monday, Danish Environment and Food Minister Mogens Jensen admitted that the government did not have the legal basis for the order.

Frederiksen’s minority Social Democratic government still plans to put forward emergency legislation to back the cull on Tuesday, but the draft needs a three-quarters majority in parliament and opposition parties have already suggested they won’t support it.

There are doubts over whether the mass cull is actually scientifically based as well as concerns that it would threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of mink breeders. Denmark is the largest exporter of mink fur in the world.

Meanwhile, mink breeders will continue to cull any infected animals on farms. As of Tuesday morning, around 2.5 million mink have been culled so far, a spokesman for Denmark’s Ministry of Environment and Food told ABC News. The animals are gassed and then either incinerated or buried in mass graves on military land.

Nov 10, 6:43 am
Russia registers over 20,000 new cases for fifth day in a row

Russia confirmed 20,977 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, marking the fifth consecutive day where daily infections exceeded 20,000.

An additional 368 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide over the past day. The cumulative total now stands at 1,817,109 cases with 31,161 deaths, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Moscow remains the epicenter of the country’s outbreak and recent surge. More than 28% of the newly confirmed cases — 5,902 — and over 18% of the new deaths — 68 — were reported in the capital, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.

Despite rising infections, Russian authorities have repeatedly said they have no plans to impose another nationwide lockdown.

The Eastern European country of 145 million people has the fifth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India, Brazil and France, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Nov 10, 5:45 am
Employee at Shanghai’s main international airport tests positive

Authorities in China’s largest city have quarantined dozens of people after an airport employee tested positive for COVID-19.

A 51-year-old man who works as a freight handler at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a major aviation hub of East Asia, was confirmed to be infected on Monday and has since been transferred to an area hospital for treatment, authorities said.

It’s the first domestic case of COVID-19 reported in Shanghai in months, and it remains unclear how the patient contracted the disease. He has not left Shanghai and reported no history of being in high-risk areas in the 14 days prior to the onset of illness. He also has no history of contact with anyone infected with COVID-19 and has not been to any other hospitals within the past three months, according to authorities.

Twenty-six close contacts, including the man’s family members and colleagues, have been quarantined and have all tested negative for COVID-19. More than 100 others were also placed in isolation for medical observation, authorities said.

So far, no additional cases have been found.

The local health authority has raised the COVID-19 risk area to medium in the village where the patient lives in Shanghai’s district of Pudong. The rest of Shanghai remains low-risk.

Nov 10, 4:38 am
US sees highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since July

There were 59,275 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 across the United States on Monday, according to data collected by The COVID Tracking Project.

That figure — up from 56,768 on Sunday — marks the largest single-day increase since July 10 and the highest total amount since July 25, The COVID Tracking Project said.

Nov 10, 4:24 am
US reports over 100,000 new cases for sixth straight day

There were 119,944 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

It’s the sixth straight day that the country has reported over 100,000 new infections. The latest daily tally is slightly less than the nation’s all-time high of 128,412 new cases set on Saturday.

An additional 670 fatalities from COVID-19 were also registered nationwide Monday, down from a peak of 2,666 new deaths in mid-April.

A total of 10,110,552 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 238,251 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4.

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